Obama: Sanders has ‘luxury’ of being long shot in Democratic race

Democratic presidential candidate, Sen.

Latest polling shows Clinton and Sanders locked in a tight contest in Iowa, where both parties hold caucuses, essentially party meetings, on February 1.

Sanders entered Monday night with considerable energy behind his campaign. Why did it take Hillary Clinton a long time before she came into opposition to the Keystone Pipeline?

He sought to keep that momentum rolling by going for the knockout blow against Clinton. When asked later if she was slow to apologize for controversial use of private email and a personal Internet server while serving as secretary of state, Clinton said, “I think that’s a fair criticism”. Sanders also defended his call for raising taxes to fund a “Medicare-for-all” program, U.S. infrastructure and tuition-free college education.

But Sanders insisted that his plan would save most Americans money.

He framed himself as the only candidate who has stood up to Wall Street and pushed for regulatory reform. But Bernie Sanders says that while experience is important, “it is not the only thing” that Democratic voters should weigh.

Bernie Sanders was up first, fielding a series of timely audience questions on the recent flap over his “establishment” comments to dismiss Hillary Clinton’s endorsements from the Human Rights Campaign and Planned Parenthood, his past vote shielding gun manufacturers from liability and how he plans to get his ambitious agenda through such a bitterly divided Congress.

There, too, the gulf between Clinton and Sanders is on clear display. “You can form your own judgment as to why that’s the case”.

But Sanders did not leave unscathed.

Sanders went on to say that a focus on taxes entirely misses the point, because his plan would reduce health insurance premiums by even more than it would raise taxes.

Clinton allies pounced on the remark over Twitter, which could easily be used in a campaign attack ad. She barely uttered his name throughout the course of the evening and at times praised him. And like Sanders and O’Malley before her, Clinton was peppered by hard questions from the audience, beginning with a skeptical young voter who demanded an explanation for why his friends find the former secretary of state so untrustworthy and immediately followed-up by another young voter seeking assurances that Clinton’s leftward tilt in the primary will continue through the general election and into a potential Clinton administration.

“So yes, people want to criticize me, okay”. I respect him greatly and what he’s done in this campaign.

“That’s fabulous, I loved it”, Clinton said, but then quickly pivoted to the crux of her argument: “I believe I’m the better person to be the Democratic nominee and to be the President of this country”. Anxious to put down a threat from the democratic socialist, Clinton faced the challenge of convincing Democratic voters not to be swayed by Sanders’ populist rhetoric and to stick with her despite a clamor for candidates outside the political establishment. I didn’t have to think hard about opposing the Trans Pacific Partnership.

“America’s scanning the horizon” for new leadership, he said.

“I have been on the front lines of change and progress since I was your age”, Clinton told the man in one of her most animated moments of the campaign. “I’ve been fighting for kids and women and the people left out and left behind to help them make the most of their lives”.

However, she conceded that she should have publicly explained the issue sooner and should have gotten out ahead of it before it snowballed on her.

The theme each time: Clinton only has your back when it’s convenient.

Clinton had a couple of strong red meat moments.

Clintonsaidthat her vote for the war in Iraq was a mistake, but when asked by a Muslim woman how she would work to ensure equal rights for religious minorities, she attacked racist Republican frontrunner Donald Trump rather than answer the question directly. “He started with Mexicans, he’s now with Muslims”, she said.

Weaver said that Monday night’s event would showcase Sanders’ retail politics skills and flair for interacting directly with voters who are “ultimately the decision makers”.

He did not explicitly endorse a candidate, and mentioned only once in passing former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, who trails in polls.